40 Under 40

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Welcome to the 2014 40 under 40, our list of the most influential young people in business. They’re in technology, yes, but also finance, fashion, film, real estate and even plant-based food. They’re all disrupting—and they’re all just getting started.

Tristan Walker, 30

Founder and CEO, Walker & Co.

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David Paul Morris—Getty Images

After stints at Twitter and Foursquare, designer-marketer Tristan Walker was invited by revered tech investor Ben Horowitz to become an Andreessen Horowitz entrepreneur in residence. While there, Walker cooked up the idea for a health and beauty brand for people of color, filling a long-decried gap in the market. The first brand under his Walker & Co. is Bevel, a shaving line with sleek, vintage-inspired products that combat razor burn, a particular problem for black men. It is sold by subscription only, and signups are growing by an average 50% a month. Many see Walker as a key player in efforts to address Silicon Valley’s lack of diversity. To that end, he also co-founded Code2040, which places minority engineers in summer internships at top tech companies, named for the year when the majority of the country is projected to be nonwhite.

VIDEO

Building the next great health and beauty brand

Tristan Walker was once head of sales at Foursquare. Now, he’s creating a series of personal grooming products for people of color. Read more about Tristan Walker, here

5 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW

1

His favorite artist is Otis Redding

2

Pet peeve: silence. He can only work with music playing

3

He recently removed email from his phone completely to minimize distractions